Biden OK with Democrats citing outdated number to fault Romney on health care

George Bennett @gbennettpost

Sunday

Sep 30, 2012 at 12:01 AMOct 1, 2012 at 12:49 AM

Not long after Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz told seniors at Century Village of Boca Raton they could be socked with $6,300 a year in higher Medicare costs under Mitt Romney, Vice President Joe Biden acknowledged the figure is based on an analysis of an outdated plan.

But Biden argued it’s fair for Democrats to keep using the number, anyway.

U.S. Rep. Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, was one of the speakers who took the stage before Biden on Friday at the heavily Democratic condo community.

"We know that Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan unapologetically support an extreme budget plan that would end Medicare as we know it and turn it into a voucher program, shred the health care safety net that exists for our seniors and increase their premiums, your premiums, by more than $6,300 a year. That is unacceptable," Wasserman Schultz told the senior-dominated crowd of about 800.

The $6,300 figure Wasserman Schultz cited is based on an old version of Ryan’s plan. And that plan was for people who are now 54 and younger, so her reference to "your premiums" wouldn’t apply to most of the audience at Century Village.

When Biden spoke, he noted the $6,300 or $6,400 figure that Wasserman Schultz and other Democrats frequently repeat is based on a Congressional Budget Office analysis of Ryan’s 2011 plan, not the revised version Ryan proposed and the GOP-controlled House approved this year. CBO hasn’t analyzed the new plan’s impact on beneficiaries.

"The press is out there, and these are good women and men. … They say that we’re being a little unfair," Biden said.

"CBO said the plan, the first plan that the press somehow thinks it’s unfair for us to talk about, would raise the cost for every senior by $6,400 a year. … Well the press accurately points out, they accurately say, ‘You know what, they changed that plan, so why do you keep bringing it up?’ " Biden said.

"Well the reason I bring it up, I think it’s fair to bring it up. If Congressman Ryan felt so strongly about insisting that this plan become law and if Gov. Romney said he would have signed it into law, which he did, if he were president, then it goes to their motive. It goes to who you believe," Biden said.

Elsewhere:

— U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, says it was a bad idea to single out a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a June letter that asked the State Department to investigate whether people linked to the Muslim Brotherhood were influencing department policies.

The letter — signed by Rooney, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. and three other House Republicans — mentioned Huma Abedin, Clinton’s deputy chief of staff and the wife of former Democratic House member Anthony Weiner.

The letter said Abedin "has three family members — her late father, her mother and her brother — connected to Muslim Brotherhood operatives and/or organizations. Her position affords her routine access to the Secretary and to policy making."

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., took to the floor of the Senate to denounce the letter in July.

"These allegations about Huma and the report from which they are drawn are nothing less than an unwarranted and unfounded attack on an honorable citizen, a dedicated American and a loyal public servant," McCain said.

"I don’t regret signing the letter. I regret that we included her name," Rooney told the Politics column last week after making similar comments to Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers

Rooney said the question of Muslim Brotherhood influence is legitimate, but naming Abedin created an unnecessary distraction.

"We weren’t calling for an investigation of her. We were using her as an example. … The fact that we included her name took away from a legitimate query of these agencies," Rooney said.

— Appointments to the elections canvassing board used to be shrugworthy pieces of business on the Palm Beach County commission agenda. But that changed after canvassing board meetings became nationally televised events during the 2000 presidential election recount.

If there’s another cliffhanger this year, Priscilla Taylor will be the commissioner in the spotlight on the three-member board. Taylor was appointed last week.